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Post by stamphinger on Feb 13, 2020 13:31:07 GMT
One of my sideline collections is Prison Philately. Not an abundance of material for this topic, but I try to buy items that become available. One item I see more frequently than others is local posts. It is my understanding that many prisons consider U.S. postage stamps as contraband which would limit collecting, but cinderellas and local post items have no intrinsic value and seem to be allowed in the few prison clubs that exist. Below are two prison clubs that have issued local post labels and from which I have examples. The first image is a block of 24 undated locals from the 906 Stamp Club at the Walpole Massachusetts Correctional Institution. Below it is one of the 906 Club labels on a 1971 cover. The second cover is from the Ohio Penitentiary Stamp Club and has four different local post labels.
Don StampHinger  |
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jpotx113
Member 
Posts: 460
What I collect: USA, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Machins, misc. WW
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Post by jpotx113 on Feb 13, 2020 14:44:55 GMT
I worked for the prison system from 1994-1998. During that time I only ran across one inmate that collected stamps while incarcerated. On the other time, I'd occasionally find where one was trying to reuse stamps to send out letters.
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Post by stamphinger on Feb 13, 2020 15:28:11 GMT
I have covers and/or cinderellas from five different prison clubs. Three of those clubs appear to have held exhibits. I would like to have seen one of those. I'm wondering what type of materials were exhibited.
Re: jpotx's post, some of the club members may not have collected on the outside, but found the club a diversion.
Don
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Post by stamphinger on Feb 13, 2020 15:32:37 GMT
Jpotx:
Did the prison you worked for allow that one collecting prisoner to pursue a collection?
Don
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jpotx113
Member
Posts: 460
What I collect: USA, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Machins, misc. WW
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Post by jpotx113 on Feb 13, 2020 20:17:57 GMT
He was allowed to keep any stamps that were on letters sent to him. He soaked them off the covers and put them into a photo album. I imagine if someone in the free world bought stamps and mailed them to him he could keep them. Buying them himself would not be allowed.
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Post by greaden on Feb 13, 2020 20:21:44 GMT
I am curious about prison philately, and patterns in covers coming out of prisons. Aside from the re-use of stamps that the postal service neglected to postmark, there are common practices such as inverting flag stamps. I wonder if messages are ever hidden underneath stamps?
As drugs have been soaked into paper, now a lot of prisons have mail sent somewhere to be scanned and then viewed digitally. Prisoners' mail leaving prisons increasingly uses postal stationary, presumably to avoid potential problems involving actual stamps.
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oldpapercollect
Member
All giveaways have ended. Thank you.
Posts: 384
What I collect: UPU, UNITED NATIONS, SCOUTS ON STAMPS, CHICKENS ON STAMPS, ESPERANTO & CINDERELLA STAMPS and ISRAEL POST OFFICE OPENINGS SINCE 1948
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Post by oldpapercollect on Jun 30, 2020 22:20:37 GMT
905 Local Post South Walpole. Ipex Station.  |
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ausbrasilien
Member
Inactive
Posts: 103 
What I collect: German Area
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Post by ausbrasilien on Nov 9, 2020 13:13:11 GMT
One of the many advantages of being part of a forum is to discover new perspectives of our hobby. I never imagined something as prision mail. Nice topic! Are there special cancelations in prisions or you can divise it only by the address of the sender?
I have also liked the philatelist inmate story. I believe that, if prisions incentivated the porsuit of a hobby amongst the inmates, there might be less violence in the facilities.
Here in Brazil, where the Jails are very violent, there is a new law: for each three books that an inmate reads and sumarizes, they discount one day of his sentence (or the opposite, I am not sure).
This idea could extend somehow to philatey... what do you guys think?
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Post by stamphinger on Jun 27, 2021 20:26:51 GMT
A recent acquisition to my small penal philately collection, this cover with a souvenir label from the 13th IPEX show at the Walpole Massachusetts Correctional Institution tied by the show cancel. The "I" in IPEX apparently stands for Inmate. This cover follows the one from the previous year posted by oldpapercollect two posts above. It appears that the Walpole prison 906 stamp club dates back to 1959 and the shows were held for 13th years, however, I have not seen any covers or cinderellas from the 906 club since this 1971 cover.
An internet search indicates that the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction is the same prison that was home to the 906 club. It is a maximum security prison and, according to an internet source, one of the most violent prisons in the U.S. Given that status, I'm surprised that a prison stamp club and exhibition were allowed.
Don StampHinger  |
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Post by greaden on Nov 25, 2023 23:14:45 GMT
Today I visited an inmate at a federal prison. I was surprised to learn that stamps have replaced cigarettes as the main currency in that peculiar economy. Two stamps are stuck back to back and used as a coin.
At least stamps are routinely used somewhere!
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Post by stamphinger on Nov 26, 2023 16:43:24 GMT
This item resurfaced from my unmounted cinderella items. It is a souvenir sheet on the reverse of a 6" x 9" manila envelope. The s/s is from 1987, with the envelope posted in 1988. The California Men's Colony opened in 1954 and is a minimum/medium security prison for male prisoners only. It is located in San Luis Obispo County, California. In addition to this item, I have seen or read about references to a 1988 local post first-day cover and local post stamps of the same date, but the s/s posted is the only item I have to date. Watching for both items. I have found no evidence that the stamp club or local post is still running.
Don StampHinger  |
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Post by stamphinger on Dec 18, 2023 23:30:30 GMT
An addition to my Prison Philately collection. Not a local post item, but my other 906 prison stamp club locals and exhibit covers are in this thread. I can't find what FOPEX was the abbreviation for, but the cover is postmarked South Walpole, MA, which was the location of the prison, so it appears to have been a local exhibition. Based on the covers available, the 906 club was by far the most active of my prison stamp clubs. It does not appear to be still active. Don StampHinger  |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,904
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Dec 19, 2023 2:16:07 GMT
An addition to my Prison Philately collection. Not a local post item, but my other 906 prison stamp club locals and exhibit covers are in this thread. I can't find what FOPEX was the abbreviation for, but the cover is postmarked South Walpole, MA, which was the location of the prison, so it appears to have been a local exhibition. Based on the covers available, the 906 club was by far the most active of my prison stamp clubs. It does not appear to be still active. Don StampHinger  |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,904
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Dec 19, 2023 2:40:31 GMT
There is a link to Waltham but I cannot locate the text  |
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Post by stamphinger on Dec 19, 2023 16:51:11 GMT
Could be, although Fort Orange is 168 miles from South Walpole according to Google maps. We can be reasonably sure that inmates did not attend the exhibition, but they may have sent an exhibit. Seems like the cover would have been canceled at FOPEX though, instead of at South Walpole. Maybe the covers were sent for sale at FOPEX and this one is a left over??? Questions likely to remain unanswered. Don
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